Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer for God to Be Near

For the director of music. A song of David.

Daniel’s Vision

8 During the third year Belshazzar was king, I saw this vision. This was after the other one. ² In this vision I saw myself in the capital city of Susa. Susa is in the area of Elam. I was standing by the Ulai River. ³ I looked up, and I saw a male sheep standing beside the river. It had two long horns. But one horn was longer than the other. The long horn was newer than the other horn. ⁴ I watched the male sheep charge to the west. He also charged to the north and the south. No animal could stand before him. And none could save another animal from his power. He did whatever he wanted. And he became very powerful.

⁵ While I was thinking about this, I saw a male goat come from the west. This goat had one large horn that was easy to see. It was between his eyes. He crossed over the whole earth. But his feet did not touch the ground.

⁶ That goat charged the male sheep with the two horns. This was the male sheep I had seen standing by the river. The goat was very angry. ⁷ I watched the goat attack the male sheep. It broke the sheep’s two horns. The sheep could not stop it. The goat knocked the sheep to the ground. Then the goat walked all over him. No one was able to save the sheep from the goat. ⁸ So the male goat became very great. But when he was strong, his big horn broke off. Then four horns grew in place of the one big horn. Those four horns were easy to see. They pointed in four different directions.

⁹ Then a little horn grew from one of those four horns. It became very big. It grew to the south and the east and toward the beautiful land of Judah. ¹⁰ That little horn grew until it reached to the sky. It even threw some of the army of heaven to the ground. And it walked on them. ¹¹ That little horn became very strong against God, the commander of heaven’s armies. It stopped the daily sacrifices that were offered to the commander. The place where people worshiped the commander was pulled down. ¹² There was a turning away from God. Because of this the people stopped the daily sacrifices. It was like throwing truth down to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

¹³ Then I heard one angel speaking. Another angel asked the first one, “How long will the things in this vision last? The vision is about the daily sacrifices. It is about the turning away from God that brings destruction. It is about the Temple being pulled down. It is about the army of heaven being walked on.”

¹⁴ He said to me, “This will happen for 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the holy place will be repaired.”

²⁶ If we decide to go on sinning after we have learned the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. ²⁷ There is nothing but fear in waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy all those who live against God. ²⁸ Any person who refused to obey the law of Moses was found guilty from the proof given by two or three witnesses. He was put to death without mercy. ²⁹ So what do you think should be done to a person who does not respect the Son of God? He looks at the blood of the agreement, the blood that made him holy, as no different from other men’s blood. He insults the Spirit of God’s grace. Surely he should have a much worse punishment. ³⁰ We know that God said, “I will punish those who do wrong. I will repay them.”^[a] And he also said, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{[b] 31} It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.